Potential Conflict of Interest by Public Officials

For more than a decade, Portland City Council continually awarded no-bid reservoir burial and treatment contracts to MWH Global, and to CH2M Hill following Mr. Glicker’s move to that company; obscuring the deals from public process by pushing them through as “emergency” measures.

Portland City Council continued this practice over the objections of its own Auditor, Gary Blackmer.

Portland City Council’s practices were sufficiently egregious that Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Marilyn Litzenberger enjoined them from such practices in an order dated October 27, 2004.

Citizens who objected to the City’s practices were shunted off into “review panels” that were stacked with “consultants” who were MWH Global subcontractors, and with “at-large citizens” who in truth worked for the Portland Water Bureau and Portland Parks and Recreation Department.

When Mayor Hales’ Chief Financial Officer, Rich Goward, criticized the City of Portland for fiscal mismanagement of water funds, Mayor Hales eliminated Mr. Goward’s position, costing Portland rate payers $160,000 in severance fees, and leading to public charges of whistleblower retaliation.

After Mayor Hales eliminated the City’s chief watchdog position, the City misspent $200,000 in water and sewer funds, leading to the firing of the City’s chief administrator, Jack Graham, and a $40,000 out-of-court settlement for his termination.

Jane Kingston, the City Accountant who blew the whistle on the $200,000 water fund misappropriation, was then fired, leading to a $45,000 out-of-court settlement in her wrongful termination suit.

When the MWH and CH2M Hill reservoir projects spearheaded under Mr. Glicker’s leadership came under public criticism, the Oregon Legislature adopted laws designed to preserve Oregon’s open reservoirs.

Despite the expressed intent of the Legislature to protect Portland’s open reservoirs, Oregon’s Health Authority, under Governor Kitzhaber’s leadership, took action to push for reservoir decommissioning.

Governor Kitzhaber has received multiple campaign contributions from CH2M Hill while Mr. Glicker was in a leadership role in company.

Governor Kitzhaber’s appointee in charge of the Oregon Health Authority, who oversaw the agency’s actions that helped ensure MWH and CH2M Hill’s continued reservoir contract work, was subsequently promoted as Chief of Staff to Portland’s Mayor Charlie Hales, whose own HDR Engineering also benefitted from reservoir-related contracts.

After Mr. Glicker had moved to a leadership position at CH2M Hill, the company worked with Governor Kitzhaber to form the West Coast Exchange (WCX), a consortium designed to push throughout the west coast for large public works engineering projects like those envisioned to replace Portland’s open reservoirs. The President of WCX, Dan Carol, also sits on Governor Kitzhaber’s cabinet as Director of Strategic Initiatives.

WCX’s promotional publications and symposia for WCX feature Governor Kitzhaber’s domestic partner, Cylvia Hayes, and her company, 3E Solutions, in a prominent role promoting CH2M Hill’s vision of reshaping the West Coast’s infrastructure.

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